Loot Boxes

[BloodOmen]

Rather than keep bringing this up in the random spam thread I thought it deserved its own thread.

To kick it off

Belgium says loot boxes are gambling, wants them banned in Europe | PC Gamer

Bye loot boxes /theend

 

[Raven]

Disney dropped their lunch with EA apparently. I don't think they will be back in SW games.

I think its pretty clear that nobody wants them, expect Ubisoft to go balls deep immediately. Massive cash grab while they legally still can.

 

[Gwadien]

I hope it doesn't impact Steams approach.

Or Blizzard.

 

[BloodOmen]

Hawaii now too

Hawaii Wants To Fight The "Predatory Behaviour" Of Loot Boxes

 

[BloodOmen]

I hope it doesn't impact Steams approach.

Or Blizzard.

It likely will by the sounds of it - they're targetting anything that is left to chance in digital games by the sounds of it.. quite a bit falls under that

Steam
Hearthstone
Overwatch

etc etc etc

 

[Gwadien]

It likely will by the sounds of it - they're targetting anything that is left to chance in digital games by the sounds of it.. quite a bit falls under that

Steam
Hearthstone
Overwatch

etc etc etc

It should only be banned if there's an advantage to doing it, I've always had lots of respect for Steam for their approach; games are very cheap and it's only cosmetics.

 

[Zarjazz]

Disney dropped their lunch with EA apparently. I don't think they will be back in SW games.

Citation needed.

It likely will by the sounds of it - they're targetting anything that is left to chance in digital games by the sounds of it.. quite a bit falls under that

Steam
Hearthstone
Overwatch

etc etc etc

What have loot boxes got to do with Steam?

Overwatch is one of the few games, maybe the only game, I can think of where loot boxes are done right. They are purely cosmetic.

 

[Gwadien]

Citation needed.

Steam Community Market :: Showing results for: Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

 

[Zarjazz]

Steam Community Market :: Showing results for: Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Yes we all know CS & TF2 players will pay silly money for silly items. How does that answer my request for the source of Ravens statement?

 

[Gwadien]

Yes we all know CS & TF2 players will pay silly money for silly items. How does that answer my request for the source of Ravens statement?

Oh, I have him on ignore, sorry.

 

[Ctuchik]

It should only be banned if there's an advantage to doing it, I've always had lots of respect for Steam for their approach; games are very cheap and it's only cosmetics.

If publishers want to sell cosmetic items in their games they are free to do so WITHOUT making it look like you're playing a las vegas slot machine..

Right now the only reason they get away with this shit is because of the technicality "everyone always gets something". But fundamentally it's still gambling and should be regulated as such.

 

[Zarjazz]

Rather than all fuss caused by the recent addition of loot boxes into all these FPS games I'm more interested to see what will happen to MOBA's if they get banned.

For example the entire levelling system for League of Legends, the most played online PC game, is built around random loot that encourages people to spend cash to buy champions and runes. It's even worse in their latest patch where the IP/XP grind has now been completely replaced with randomness & loot boxes. If that gets banned it would be a massive change to that genre of games.

 

[Gwadien]

I really don't see the problem, if you're spending thousands of pounds on skins then you probably should get checked for addiction.

However the local corner shop man doesn't have a duty of care over customers buying thousands of pounds worth of scratch cards.

The issue only arise when it came down to content which would give you a benefit over others in the game.

Banning it completely would fuck up entire models for games - how would f2p games like lol, hots and dota work when there's not a monetisation of some sort.

It all seems a bit snowflake libtard to me, if you disagree with the ethics of EA don't buy the fucking game.

 

[Moriath]

I really don't see the problem, if you're spending thousands of pounds on skins then you probably should get checked for addiction.

However the local corner shop man doesn't have a duty of care over customers buying thousands of pounds worth of scratch cards.

The issue only arise when it came down to content which would give you a benefit over others in the game.

Banning it completely would fuck up entire models for games - how would f2p games like lol, hots and dota work when there's not a monetisation of some sort.

It all seems a bit snowflake libtard to me, if you disagree with the ethics of EA don't buy the fucking game.

The local corner shop man cant sell scratch cards to kids tho

 

[Gwadien]

The local corner shop man cant sell scratch cards to kids tho

Kids can't have debit/credit cards = kids can't buy shit from the internet.

Bad parenting again.

 

[Zarjazz]

I really don't see the problem, if you're spending thousands of pounds on skins then you probably should get checked for addiction.

The difference is gambling is regulated. People being encouraged to spend lots of money this way on random chance in a game is not. Especially if those people are children. Any betting firm online or high street would get the full weight of the legal system and massive fines if they let kids gamble, that's why all the sites have age verification.

 

[BloodOmen]

Citation needed.



What have loot boxes got to do with Steam?

Overwatch is one of the few games, maybe the only game, I can think of where loot boxes are done right. They are purely cosmetic.

CS:GO crates/keys? TF2 boxes and keys?

 

[Zarjazz]

CS:GO crates/keys? TF2 boxes and keys?

Those are individual games, not Steam itself. Don't confuse Vale as a service provider and Valve as a development studio. Those game crates are an interesting example, they've been around for years and never generated this kind of fuss - except when CS:GO skins were literally put up on gambling site ofc.

 

[Gwadien]

Those are individual games, not Steam itself. Don't confuse Vale as a service provider and Valve as a development studio. Those game crates are an interesting example, they've been around for years and never generated this kind of fuss - except when CS:GO skins were literally put up on gambling site ofc.

This is precisely my point.

There's been worse than Battlefront anyway, but the games haven't been as big.

Just let the game die a thousand deaths and they won't do it again.

All this is going to do is destroy games, and cause them to cost more.

 

[Moriath]

I prefer an up front game will cost x increase to a microtransaction sneak into your wallet.

You can make an informed choice then

 

[Zarjazz]

All this is going to do is destroy games, and cause them to cost more.

Bollocks. AAA games do cost more to produce but they also cost more to buy. We already have to suffer with the Season Pass bullshit as a way to extract more money from gamers. Publishers have seen how successful the F2P / Mobile model has been and wanted to cash in there too.

Good article about it here - The case for and against loot boxes, according to developers | PC Gamer

 

[Gwadien]

Bollocks. AAA games do cost more to produce but they also cost more to buy. We already have to suffer with the Season Pass bullshit as a way to extract more money from gamers. Publishers have seen how successful the F2P / Mobile model has been and wanted to cash in there too.

Good article about it here - The case for and against loot boxes, according to developers | PC Gamer

So what about LoL/DOTA/HOTS?

You can buy sets straight up or on the market, but I'd imagine most of their revenue comes from this so called gambling.

They'd have to start charging people to play.

 

[Zarjazz]

Hence my earlier post saying almost the same thing

MOBA's could be hit especially hard if any legal restrictions come into force regarding loot boxes.

 

[Ctuchik]

So what about LoL/DOTA/HOTS?

You can buy sets straight up or on the market, but I'd imagine most of their revenue comes from this so called gambling.

They'd have to start charging people to play.

Ok, so what of it? If their games are so crap they can't survive a change like that then why should we be sorry to see them go?

/edit: And wouldn't that just prove the point we're trying to make?

 

[Gwadien]

Ok, so what of it? If their games are so crap they can't survive a change like that then why should we be sorry to see them go?

/edit: And wouldn't that just prove the point we're trying to make?

No.

But you can't go from f2p to paid games after 10 years of it being f2p, it's suicide.

 

[Moriath]

No.

But you can't go from f2p to paid games after 10 years of it being f2p, it's suicide.

Nothing lasts forever

 

[Zarjazz]

No.

But you can't go from f2p to paid games after 10 years of it being f2p, it's suicide.

Well they wouldn't have to go paid but a lot of the structure that means you can avoid most of the grind by gambling for money would have to go. It takes several years to grind out all the XP needed to get all the champions in LoL unless you pay up and yet people expect that in a MOBA so it's never got the same hate.

 

[BloodOmen]

Those are individual games, not Steam itself. Don't confuse Vale as a service provider and Valve as a development studio. Those game crates are an interesting example, they've been around for years and never generated this kind of fuss - except when CS:GO skins were literally put up on gambling site ofc.

No but they're fully automated through Steam/owned by Valve which in turn owns Steam. The implications of what Belgium are going to push stretches to any and all game that has a 'chance' system which takes money for that 'chance'

 

[BloodOmen]

Sweden, Australia and 6 other US states are looking into lootboxes being classified as gambling now too.

This is going to be good.

 

[Moriath]

Sweden, Australia and 6 other US states are looking into lootboxes being classified as gambling now too.

This is going to be good.

I agree. I hope they get banned.